Winter Park Increases Summer Program Fees

March 31, 1988|By Yvonne C.T. Vassel of The Sentinel Staff

WINTER PARK — Enrollment fees for the city's summer youth recreation program will increase by as much as 52 percent this year so that better qualified people can be hired to help supervise the program, said parks and recreation director Bill Carrico.

In addition, the pay will be increased to compete better with salaries offered by other summer employers.

The increase will be minimal for Winter Park children enrolled in the program at the community center on the city's west side. Income levels in that area generally are much lower than elsewhere in the city.

The fee there will rise from $5.25 to $5.30 a week to keep up with the increase in the state sales tax. In comparison, the fees for children enrolled at the city's Cady Way and Azalea Lane recreation centers will be raised to $8.

''We had a lot of discussion about it. Ron Moore chief of recreation facilities felt a lot of kids from the west side would be excluded because of price increases. The last time there was an increase Ron said enrollment really dropped. People there couldn't afford it, so kids were left staring over the fence,'' Carrico said.

Fees for children who live outside the city will increase from $10.50 to $16 weekly at Azalea Lane and Cady Way, but from $10.50 to $10.60 at the community center.

At the direction of City Commissioner David Currie, Carrico said he will look into whether the program can weather further increases next year. The commission was concerned the program cost is too low compared with an area average of $50 a week for day-care programs.

For the past two years Winter Park has been trying to reduce its dependence on using workers enrolled in the county's summer youth employment program, formerly called CETA. Carrico said the fee increase is another step in that direction.

The city will not have more counselors this year, Carrico said, but it will have more counselors paid by the city and fewer paid by the county.

''Our goal is to have all our summer workers paid by the city,'' he said.

The increase is expected to provide an additional $5,800 so the department can increase its salary budget for summer staff members from $28,404 to $33,778.

Since the height of problems with the county workers several years ago, when several were arrested on various charges, the caliber of workers has increased substantially, Carrico said.

There were few problems last summer but enough to make Carrico and Moore feel changes were called for.

Carrico said Winter Park has had some very good workers sent by the county and it is asking for some of them to return this year.

The summer workers hired by the city are usually teachers, college students and Winter Park High School students active in athletic programs. The latter usually are recommended by a teacher at the school.

Usually 300 children are enrolled at a time in the summer program, which is split between the Azalea Lane Recreation Center, the Winter Park Community Center and the Cady Way recreation center. Last year, 500 children were enrolled throughout the summer.

More changes are planned for the program this year. Fewer trips to amusement parks are being planned to accommodate expanded programs at the centers. For example, there will be more emphasis on swimming with classes and competitions at the community center and Cady Way pools. Soccer, basketball, softball and supervised playtime will be offered at the three new playgrounds. ''We had very little swimming in the past. What we are finding out is most of the kids have been going to the amusement parks with their parents, so it's not as interesting. We are going to be doing a few trips but much less than we did in the past,'' Carrico said.